Female not eating after pregnancy

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jim barry

jim barry

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jun 21, 2006
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U.K
Hi all
My BD female has not eaten since giving birth one week ago. She is not acting her normal self either, just doesn't look right. Moves away from food when put in the tank. Took one worm a few days ago but refused worms yesterday. For those that read my post last week, she had a litler of 6 pups but only one survived. So i am thinking she may have had something wrong with her or this is all because of the bad end to her pregnancy. The one survivor pup has not started to eat yet either. All other rays and fish in the tank are fine.
Has anyone experienced this before?
 
some rays just take longer to recover, ive had pups not eat for 2 weeks, and my friends female is like that gives birth and then does not eat and then all the sudden goes back to normal. Be patient and give her space and time.
 
DIDYSIS said:
some rays just take longer to recover, ive had pups not eat for 2 weeks, and my friends female is like that gives birth and then does not eat and then all the sudden goes back to normal. Be patient and give her space and time.
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I agree. My hystrix some times takes a while before going back to her normal self. And her pups typically take 1 week+ before they begin to eat.
 
Hi Jim,

Like the guys have said its not unusual for the loss of appetite a few days after birth, it sometimes happens.
Would expect the pup to start feeding pretty soon.

Good luck!
 
Hi all

Thanks very much for the replies, nice to get some reasurance. All the black pups i have had have taken about a week to start eating but i am a litle extra concerened about this one given her size and the fact none of the other pups survived. But i have never known the mother go so long without eating after birth, but then again i have never ha such a big loss of pups at birth. Guess this one is just going to be different to the other pregnancies i have experienced.
Watch this space and hope they both start eating soon. Its a shame the pup is by herself as she has no 'monkey see, monkey do' to help her along the way.
Give them both a few more days and see how things go.
Thanks again for the replies guys.
 
my female marble took a hunger strike of 2-3 weeks after her first litter, then continued to eat off and on sporadically for a couple months after with the male still present in the tank... for her second batch i removed the male during pregnancy...she had her litter, ate the next day and has continued acting/eating normal since....Id maybe consider seperating her off with a divider or removing ur male if possible. may just be from her first batch or may be simply from stress of other rays. My pups have all started on mysis, not the norm, but it sure beats choppin worms.
 
wednesday13 said:
my female marble took a hunger strike of 2-3 weeks after her first litter, then continued to eat off and on sporadically for a couple months after with the male still present in the tank... for her second batch i removed the male during pregnancy...she had her litter, ate the next day and has continued acting/eating normal since....Id maybe consider seperating her off with a divider or removing ur male if possible. may just be from her first batch or may be simply from stress of other rays. My pups have all started on mysis, not the norm, but it sure beats choppin worms.
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Thanks mate but i have no male in the tank as i lost him a couple of weeks ago, i only have one 10" male and some other females but certainly no one harrasing her. I was considering dividing but don't want to go that route unless i have to as i will be left with the hastle of having to remove uneaten food every feed time.
I too start my pups on mysis shrimp and garlic and also bloodworms. Always worked for me.
 
Well the pup just took her first meal tonight on the second attempt at feeding her this evening! Turns out she prefers a worm freshly chopped. I have been chopping them up and soaking them with pellets and other food which is what I have done for all my pups. Turns out this one want to be a little more fussy. I don't care so long as she has started eating, I can get her off worms later once she gets into her stride. Happy days!!
 
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